Hypothesis: Tested and Proven
by Tawnykit
Summary: Mokuba is in the middle of doing his homework when he notices something odd. Seto isn't the only one who can make his employees tremble in fear!


Disclaimer: Take a look at the name of this website and think this through real careful now. If I owned _Yu Gi Oh!_, than why in the name of the Blue Eyes White Dragon would I writing on a fanfiction site?

A/N: Not a lot of action... Just a strange little one-shot I came up with one night while doing science homework...

* * *

There was a lobby on the third floor of Kaiba Corporation's main headquarters. There was nothing particularly special about it; just your average, run of the mill employee relaxation area. Several plush chairs lay scattered about the room where tired employees could take a break from a hard day's work. A couple of vending machines stood in one corner, waiting to satiate hungry stomachs and quench the thirst that was acquired from staring a computer screen all day. 

The occupants of this room were as average as the room itself. Two women stood gossiping near the vending machines. A janitor swept the floor near the door, his broom making a monotonous _swish… swish…_ as it passed over the tiled ground. A group of five or so young businessmen crowded around a laptop computer screen, whispering furiously at what they saw.

Apart from them and one other figure, the room was empty. Though someone who didn't know this figure would perhaps deem him the least important of the people in the room, they would nevertheless find themselves observing him with interest. In a place such as this, the eye is attracted to the most unusual figure, and a child working on their homework is hardly usual in a top of the line office building.

The child's name was Mokuba Kaiba, and as a matter of fact, despite what the casual observer might believe, he was not the least important in the room. His older brother was Seto Kaiba, the president of Kaiba Corporation, and he himself was the vice president. He was much too young to partake in the myriad of business that was the order of the day for most vice presidents, however. Seto was training him, it was true, but for now his most pressing duty was completing the homework that his teachers had assigned him over the weekend. He had been working on it for quite some time now, and the only thing still standing between him and freedom was the vocabulary that his science teacher had assigned. They had a list of words related to their next unit – the water cycle – and they had to come up with a sentence that proved their comprehension of the definition for each of the words. With a bored sigh, little Mokuba opened his science binder and pulled out a piece of lined paper.

_'Aquifer,'_ he read from the packet of words. _'Earth materials that contain groundwater and through which groundwater may flow freely. Some examples of these include sand, porous sandstone, and gravel. Aquifers vary widely in their ability to hold water and the speed at which water flows through them.' _He picked up his pencil, wrote down the first of his sentences, then moved on to the next word.

_'Aquitard: What my brother thinks Joey Wheeler is…' Heheh, just kidding_. He grinned at his small joke._ 'Earth materials such as clay or low permeability rocks that retard or completely block the flow of water.'_ He wrote down his next sentence.

So it went on. Mokuba worked diligently at his homework, mentally planning out his weekend as he did so.

That is, until he reached, _'hypothesis.'_ He had gone through about half of the words by this point, and he was feeling extremely bored. He scanned the definition for this word uninterestedly, not paying much attention to what the text said. Feeling the need for a change of scenery, he lifted his eyes, gazing at the other occupants. _Gossiping ladies… janitor… Nothing interesting there…_ His eyes swept over said employees absently, not finding the distraction he craved.

Then he noticed the group arguing over the laptop screen. At first he dismissed them, too, as nothing special, but then he did a double take. _Now wait a minute… _That _is interesting. I wonder why they seem so upset… And why they keep looking at me like they don't want me to notice them. _For they were, indeed, shooting the occasional furtive glance in his direction. _Very interesting, indeed…_

Not wanting them to know that they had, in fact, caught his attention, he shifted his gaze back down to his homework. He found himself again looking at the definition for the word, _'Hypothesis.'_ He read it now to occupy the time as he decided what to do. He paused about halfway through the text, and began rereading it with interest. _'A hypothesis is an educated guess advanced to explain a set of observations…'_

He grinned at the irony of the situation, shooting another glance at the businessmen. He had his own hypothesis as to what they were doing. Time to do a bit of research.

He stood, taking care not to look like he was doing anything that would alert them to his suspicions. He needed an excuse to get closer to them. With a satisfied smirk, he noticed that the vending machines were almost directly behind them. He struck out for them, being careful to walk with the casual yet determined stride of a thirsty twelve-year-old bent on getting himself something to drink.

The businessmen stopped talking as he walked by them, several of them looking at him nervously. He watched them out of the corner of his eye, feeling his suspicions deepen.

He reached the vending machine and felt the eyes of the businessmen leave him. They started talking again, a definite note of relief in their voices.

_Definitely suspicious…_ he thought as he bought himself a Coke. He took a sip from the bottle, recalling the next part of the definition. _"…It is an assumption or interpretation of a practical situation or condition taken as the grounds for action…"_

He mused over this bit of information. _All right… Right now I'm assuming that they're up to no good. As for further action… People in school tell us that eavesdropping is very bad manners and we should never do it. On the other hand, Seto always says that bad manners are excusable if they benefit the company. Anyway, my science teacher always tells us that we shouldn't be afraid of testing our theories. So I'm sure a little eavesdropping can be forgiven… scientifically speaking, of course._

He was careful not to look at the group or give any indication that he found them even the slightest bit interesting. He stared off into space, sipping his Coke and marveling at his brilliance, all the while listening carefully to the snatches of conversation that reached him.

"…sure about this?"

"Yes, yes…"

"…don't know…"

"…be fine… Stop worrying so much…"

"…you two stop arguing? Going to get us…"

"…not going to get caught…"

Mokuba shook his head. _Idiots… _he thought._ They should know better than to do something like this in a public place. Not that I mind. It makes my job easier. What was it we were told us about hypotheses? Something about being put in an "If… than… because…" format. How's this sound? 'If naughty businessmen are doing their best – even if their best isn't very good – not to get noticed, than I had better go check them out, because they're probably not doing something they're supposed to do.'  
_

He drained the last of his coke, throwing it in a recycling bin next to the vending machines. He grinned again as he recalled the last bit of the definition. _'…A hypothesis should be verifiable by experiment or other means of research.' Let's go verify then, shall we?_

He crept silently over to the table that the businessmen were sitting around. They didn't look up as he came to stand right behind them. He looked thoughtfully at their computer screen, then shook his head._ I see… Hacking into the main computer base, are we? Intending to embezzle a few million in company shares, no doubt…_

He cleared his throat. It was time to put an end to this. Every last one of the embezzler-wannabes jumped like startled rabbits, whirling around to face him. A look of horror grew on their faces as they realized they had been caught.

Mokuba gave them a patronizing smile. He adopted the low, dangerous tone of voice that his brother always used in such circumstances. He wasn't as good as Seto was, perhaps, but it was still enough to make them freeze, their futile excuses dying unspoken on their lips.

"Well, well, well… We _are_ in trouble… aren't we?"

* * *

A/N: And I think I'll just leave it there. We'll let you're imagination decide what happens next, 'kay? 

The definitions used here are actually pulled from my own science book. At least, I'm assuming they're from my science book. My teacher just gave us a packet of papers, so I don't really know. I'd cite 'em if I did.

My own teacher had given us the exact same assignment that Mokuba's did a couple months back, and I was given this weird little idea. It's stuck with me since then. Oh yeah, I altered the definition for 'hypothesis' a little, combining it with what I found at Merriam Webster Online. It wasn't quite extensive enough for what I needed.

I am quite pleased with how this turned out. How 'bout you?


End file.
